Welcome to iLibrarian

Nancy Scibelli Bouthilet writes about Implementing an ERM System in the May 2012 issue of the AALL Spectrum. The article looks at features and their benefits, challenges, best practices, and also provides a step-by-step guide to rolling out an ERM system in your library. This is such a timely topic, and one that we’ve been looking at in my library. I’ve recently blogged about a specific application called Coral which is a free, open source ERM system that may be of interest to libraries as well.

Stephanie Buck at Mashable offers 11 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Gmail’s New Interface. Google has made a lot of changes to its Gmail app and these are all great suggestions for what to customize and how to best optimize your experience with the interface. Here are her first five recommendations:

1. Display Density
2. Button Labels
3. No Markers
4. Stars
5. Move Icons

Nick DeSantis writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus blog about 3 Ways College Libraries Are Exploring Pinterest. Based on an ACRL webinar last week, this concise article reports on 3 libraries which are effectively utilizing the popular image-based social network.

Amy-Mae Elliott at Mashable rounds up 10 Kindle Cases That Look Like Books. If you’re a librarian with a Kindle, you’ll want to check these out!

This is part of a series of posts which is based on a 3-hour hands-on workshop I offer on this topic. Be sure and check out the preceding posts:

Card Sorting from A–Z: Overview
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part I – Why and When
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part II – How to Prepare for a Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part III – How to Implement an Open Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part IV – How to Analyze Results of an Open Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part V – How to Make Recommendations Based on Findings
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part VI – How to Implement a Closed Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part VII – How to Analyze Results of a Closed Card Sort

How to Make Recommendations After a Closed Card Sort

After you have finished your analysis of the closed card sort, you should definitely have some recommendations to make based on your findings.  It may be helpful to create a final document, or summary including both your key findings from the study as well as your recommendations and strategies.  This way, your client/supervisor/committee can then decide on the next action to take based on your findings.  Your document may look something like this:

Next: Tools and Resources

Mallory Woodrow at the Social Media Examiner talks about 4 Ways to Measure Social Media Success With Free Tools. This excellent post discusses ways to gain insight into your social media marketing efforts through free tools that can be used to track and evaluate your campaigns. These are the points discussed:

• #1: Track Actions Visitors Take
• #2: Identify Social Actions Generating the Most Traffic
• #3: Find Out if Your Social Promotion Grew Legs
• #4: Get Real-Time Alerts

Michelle Kraft at the Krafty Librarian has compiled a great overview of Libraries Loaning iPads. This quick guide includes:

• Links to case studies of library loaning projects
• Samples library policies
• samples of apps loaded on iPads
• Samples of medical apps loaded on iPads
• Summary of how libraries are loaning iPads

One of the responsibilities that came with my new position here at the New York Law Institute is the management of our electronic resources. Although at first it didn’t seem like we had a significant number, once we started compiling a list we realized that we did have quite a few. I wanted a way to keep track of all of the dates that the license agreements were up for renewal, what we’re paying for each, who our main contacts are at each provider, etc.

My first thought was to check to see if we had an ERM (electronic resource management) module in our ILS (integrated library system) that would have the functionality I wanted. It turned out that while we do have an ERM module available, it lacks the ability to automatically send out email alerts to myself and other stakeholders when an electronic resource is nearing the expiration of the license. This was a major criteria of mine so I kept looking for something beyond what I could achieve simply through an Excel spreadsheet.

I came across a free open-source Electronic Resources Management System called Coral that’s been developed by the folks at the University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Libraries. I’m so impressed with it I wanted to share the details with everyone. The application is made up of four modules, each offering different functionality. They are all interoperable, but you don’t need to install all of the modules if you don’t want to use certain functions.

The Resources module lets you set up records for each of your electronic resources including Acquistions information, contacts, access information. This module will let you set up email alerts to remind you before your licenses are up for renewal. You can set the emails to send 30, 60, or 90 days beforehand or you can set up a custom time period.

The Licensing module lets you store current and past license information, including uploading the actual documents.

The Organizations module enables you to set up and store contact info and account information for all your vendors. You can also enter all issues you’ve had with each provider by date to keep track of problems you’ve had in the past.

The Usage Statistics module will provide you with stats for all of your resources.

There is a demo available on the website which will let you play around with the application without having to install it yourself. It’s a typical open source application which necessitates being on a server with PHP5 and creating MySQL5 databases. Although this is typically uncomforable for most of us who aren’t used to working with OSS (open source software) daily, I was able to install the sofware on my server in about an hour.

Whitson Gordon at Lifehacker offers a list of Top 10 Clever Tricks Built Right Into Gmail. If you’re a Gmail user, you’ll want to know about these lesser-known features. Here are his top five:

1. Add a Snooze Button to Gmail
2. Set Gmail As Your Default Mail Client
3. Access Gmail When It’s Down
4. Set Up Gmail on iOS Like It was Meant to Be
5. Sort Gmail Messages by Size and Get Rid of Data Hogs

Matt Petronzio at Mashable puts together a stellar list of 44 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed. Categorized into Editor’s Picks, Social Media, Business & Marketing, Tech & Mobile sections, these are stories you won’t want to miss. Here are just a few:

• 10 Apps to Keep Your Business Organized
• 8 Hot Media Trends You Need to Know
• How to Use Facebook Timeline Without Reworking Your Brand Strategy
• Facebook Meets Instagram: What It Means for Your Brand

Phil Mershon at the Social Media Examiner gathers 7 Creative Social Media Marketing Mini Case Studies. These are all organizations that have stood out by implementing innovative social media marketing practices. This post is a great source for marketing inspiration.

Henneke at Copyblogger asks: “Would you like to create content that people will remember, tweet, and plus?” And he provides advice for how to do just that in 58 Ways to Create Persuasive Content Your Audience Will Love. His recommendations are divided into the following sections:

• How to streamline your content creation
• How to write headlines that convert
• How to write content your readers will remember
• How to become a more persuasive writer
• How to enchant your audience
• How to self-edit so you don’t look dumb
• The harsh reality of becoming a very good writer

This is part of a series of posts which is based on a 3-hour hands-on workshop I offer on this topic. Be sure and check out the preceding posts:

Card Sorting from A–Z: Overview
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part I – Why and When
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part II – How to Prepare for a Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part III – How to Implement an Open Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part IV – How to Analyze Results of an Open Card Sort
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part V – How to Make Recommendations Based on Findings
Card Sorting from A–Z: Part VI – How to Implement a Closed Card Sort

How to Conduct Analysis of a Closed Card Sort

Analysis of a closed card sort is a bit different that that for an open one. With a closed card sort you will be looking for:

• Whether articles have made it in to the categories you expected them to based on the open card sort
• How many articles have been miscategorized into those categories as well.

Analyzing the Data

 

1. The first step in analyzing the data is to plug all of the information into a spreadsheet, or if you have done an online sort, to download the Excel-compatible file.

 


Download analysis spreadsheet

 

2. Next, you will want to start to determine which categories did the best in capturing all of their related items, and which categories recieved items errantly placed into them. While there are of course no right or wrong answers, you will have made certain assumptions based on your open card sort. Now you are testing that these assumptions are true – for example if everyone in your open sort placed an item such as career opportunities into an “About the Library” category, and therefore you determined that an “About the Library” category was necessary, you now will want to make sure than everyone in this closed sort, also placed career opportunities into the “About the Library” category.

 

3. One way to go about this analysis is to make a list of each category, and then, looking at the spreadsheet, determine which content items have been unexpectedly placed into which categories. Your list may look something like this:

 

Closed Card Sort Analysis (4 Participants)   About the Library Miscategorized – 0   My Account Miscategorized – 0   Collections Miscategoried – 5 Digital Audiobook Collection x3 Hot Titles Electronic Books   Online Resources Miscategorized – 0   Events Miscategorized – 1 Teen Anime Clubs Almost nothing in here, may want to consider whether an Events category is necessary.   Programs & Services Miscategorized – 2 Volunteer at the library Library News Feeds   Recommended Miscategorized – 0   Misc. – 3 Library News Feeds Pathfinders x2

 

 

4. A list such as the one above tallies the errant articles or items which have been placed into each category, it takes a bit of a closer inspection, however to determine how successful each category was in capturing all of its related items. If you list each of the errant items under your total tally, you will then begin to see which categories didn’t do so well in that area. For example, at first glance, the Online Resources category seems very succesful – its miscategorized items are at 0, however, it didn’t do so well capturing all of its related items when you look closer – Library News feeds has been placed in 2 other categories, Electronic Books and Digital Audiobooks have both been placed in another category by multiple participants.

 

5. Your next task is to bring your analysis to this closer, more focused level. So your next document, expands upon the first one and may look something like this:

Next: How to Make Recommendations After a Closed Sort

The folks at Educause have put together a new “7 Things” guide, this time describing 7 Things You Should Know About™ the Evolution of the Textbook. As usual, the quick reference resource answers the following questions:

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Who’s doing it?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

Jennifer Bergen at PC Mag.com creates a list of 10 Awesome Alternatives to Instagram. If you like applying filters and effects to your mobile photos, you’ll want to check out these apps. Here are the first five recommendations:

1. Hipstamatic
2. Snapseed
3. Pixlr-o-matic
4. Picplz
5. Hipster